Sharpness and background details with Tamron 150-600: Asking to evaluate lack of apparent sharpness on these birds, handheld, D7100, I thought adequate shutter speed. Maybe a higher...

mikedent Loc: Florida

Asking to evaluate lack of apparent sharpness on these birds, handheld, D7100, I thought adequate shutter speed. Maybe a higher f-stop for more DOF? Maybe just inherent softness at longer focal lengths? Also the background has a strange angular line appearance. I also noticed after a number of shots the lens did not focus properly. Perhaps that's the Tamron focus lock-up issue? I haven't had this before. I believe I was beyond the minimum focus distance because I could manually focus the area after flipping the lens switch to MF. Thanks for ideas. Perhaps should send to factory for adjustment?

(Download)

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

I owned this Tamron lens. Did you slide the switch that allowed the near focusing (Full)? BTW, the photos look fine; what is the problem that you see?
PS. ... I sold my lens.

mikedent Loc: Florida

Howard, that switch I have in the "Full" position so it's good for any available distance. What I see on my screen is a fuzziness of the birds' heads, the feathers on the bodies are not distinct, even the eye is not really sharp, and I tried to get the focus spot onto the eye as well as I could. The birds were stationary at those times. Of course it is possible that I just suck at taking photos, but I'd like to rule that out!

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

i think with a 150-600 it can be hard to get really sharp images while hand holding... IMHO what was your shutter speed????

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

mikedent wrote:

Howard, that switch I have in the "Full" position so it's good for any available distance. What I see on my screen is a fuzziness of the birds' heads, the feathers on the bodies are not distinct, even the eye is not really sharp, and I tried to get the focus spot onto the eye as well as I could. The birds were stationary at those times. Of course it is possible that I just suck at taking photos, but I'd like to rule that out!

OK. We will need to know the camera settings including how many aiming points you were using, and the distance to the subjects. It's virtually impossible to answer your questions without this information. If they turn out to be proper for the subject matter and the way the lens was held, then you will have to take some photos with your camera/lens mounted on a tripod. If they improve, it was your handholding that was the problem. BTW, if you bought the camera new there was probably a DVD that came with it, something like "View Nx2". this program will allow you to see where your aiming points were. It is also an option in your menu - to show the aiming points on the replay screen.

EnglishBrenda Loc: Kent, England

bdk wrote:

i think with a 150-600 it can be hard to get really sharp images while hand holding... IMHO what was your shutter speed????

For those who may be able to help the OP here is his exif information.

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D7100
Image Date: 2016-05-27 15:09:39 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 450mm (35mm equivalent: 675mm)
Aperture: ƒ/6.3
Exposure Time: 0.0005 s (1/2000)
ISO equiv: 320
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Center Weight
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Cloudy
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined

Creator: Michael Podlusky
Copyright: Michael Podlusky
Comment: MIKEDENT@JUNO.COM
Software: Ver.1.03

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

The shutter speed is OK. The glint in the birds' eyes are reasonably round, meaning camera movement is not the problem. The lens was wide open so DOF is very shallow. The ISO isn't very high. I don't think that what you're concerned about is not going to be resolved by these photos. My suggestion is to mount the equipment on a tripod and if you can, take some comparable photos. If not, then take some shots both on and off the tripod at the same subject. Did you find a "ViewNX2" DVD? If not, it is available as a free download from Nikon. There is one other possibility that I won't mention except to say re-read my first post.

ronichas Loc: Long Island

There is a lens firmware update for the Tamron 150-600. I brought my lens to Tamron and they did the update while I waited.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

A shutter speed of 1/2000sec. should be adequate for subject's movement. Focus on the subject is most important.
ISO speed should be up.
Never judge sharpness when a lens is wide open.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

Just a though. Why don't you try before getting too involved with what you think is a lens problem, view your pictures on another computer and screen. I don't see a problem on my equipment. Your screen may be getting weak. Just a thought. Leon

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

mikedent wrote:

Asking to evaluate lack of apparent sharpness on t... (show quote)

I think the images are fine as long as you aren't pixel peeping. In other words, if you look at them at 100%, no, they aren't as sharp as a Nikon OEM lens. You'd get sharper images with a Nikon 500mm, 600mm prime, and any of Nikon's zooms in that focal range. You can't expect a $1000 3rd party lens to compete with the quality and performance of OEM. That is why Nikon and other name brand camera companies get the big bucks. You simply can't compare your lens to OEM.

twowindsbear

Are these full frame images?
Cropped? A little? A lot?

What I'm seeing looks like 'pixeliation.'

But what do I know?

Madman Loc: Gulf Coast, Florida USA

Mike, I use the same lens on my 7100 with usually good results. Couple of questions for you. Are you using single of multi-point focusing? Continuous focusing? I find that for stationary subjects single spot and Single-Servo focus works best. Focus on the eyes then, if necessary lock focus with the AE/AF button, re-compose, then squeeze the shutter release gently.

I have a hunch that the background in that first photo is quite a distance from the spoonbill, way beyond the limited DOF of the telephoto. That can create some unusual effects.

I hope that the spoonbills are still available - they make great subjects.

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

[quote=mikedent]My first thing, after you post you can go back in and number or name each picture for better identification. I checked out the first flamingo. At F 6.3 it could be a tighter aperture. F 11. The ISO on your camera can go much higher without a problem. Also 1/1600 shutter may be faster than you need. You need at least 1/550 mm lens setting.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

jeep_daddy wrote:

I think the images are fine as long as you aren't pixel peeping. In other words, if you look at them at 100%, no, they aren't as sharp as a Nikon OEM lens. You'd get sharper images with a Nikon 500mm, 600mm prime, and any of Nikon's zooms in that focal range. You can't expect a $1000 3rd party lens to compete with the quality and performance of OEM. That is why Nikon and other name brand camera companies get the big bucks. You simply can't compare your lens to OEM.

This is what I was going to write except that I was afraid it would start a war.